Healing Wounds
by xXShikigamiXx
Summary: Post P4 AU. Erasing a god from existence has its consequences. This consequence being the loss of one's humanity in order to fill the power vacuum left behind. The Investigation Team deal with the aftermath that it had taken on themselves and their leader.
1. Yosuke

Another idea hit me and I decided to run with it. This is basically a what-if premise of the final battle of Izanami yielding a different result than the canon game's conclusion. Marie doesn't exist here, so it's more akin to the original Persona 4.

Persona 4 belongs to Atlus.

* * *

The school year at Yasogami High School had finally started up again. The students, a mix of first, second, and third years filed on through the open school gates underneath the warm spring sun. Some of them broke off from the stream to form small groups to chat and catch up. They were all equal parts enthusiastic and not so enthused for the new school year for a multitude of reasons. Yosuke just happened to be among those who weren't feeling the energy of the morning. He had walked through the school gates at a sedate pace, his arms crossed and his eyes facing down at the ground. Clearly, he gave off the impression of someone not wanting to be bothered at that moment. Not that the other students paid any attention, they never did. But it wasn't anything new and he honestly didn't mind at all.

The other third years were chattering to each other about a plethora of things. Who their teachers would be, exams throughout the year, career forms they would need to fill and the ever-talked-about college experience that was looming over their heads.

Fun…

He groaned in resigned misery. Oh well, he would deal with all of that at his own pace. And by "own pace" that meant put it off until the last moment, panic, and then slap something together just to show he had done something. Even if the past year had opened his eyes to a lot of things about himself school was still school.

Sliding the door open to his new homeroom on the third floor he took a step inside.

"Oh, Yosuke-kun," Yukiko's soft voice sounded relieved and delighted at the sight of him.

"Hey Yukiko-san," he greeted her in return, "Looks like we're in the same class this year too, huh? Although, I don't see Chie around here."

The kung fu loving girl was nowhere to be seen among the other students who were in the room. There was the basketball manager from last year, Ai Ebihara, sitting a little ways away from them though. Yosuke recalled a few times seeing her with Yu, his best friend denying any accusations of them being a couple.

They were, at the most, just very good friends according to Yu.

Turning away from Ai, Yosuke tuned back in to what Yukiko was saying to him.

"Well, she's in class 3-3 this year."

"I see."

The two of them made some small talk before class would start. It was mostly about general stuff that had happened on the remainder of their spring break. They were also very careful to not talk about what had happened on March 20th while they did. It wasn't something they would talk about in an area where there would be nosy eavesdroppers and it was an intensely private matter. No one outside of the Investigation Team could possibly understand it.

At the front of the room, the door slid open and in stepped one of Yasogami's most notable teachers. Said teacher being Ms. Sofue; the world history teacher who was a huge fan of everything that was Egyptian in origin.

'_Better than Kashiwagi at least,'_ Yosuke thought to himself. He still got shivers down his spine when he thought back to that one night during the Culture Festival. It was up there on his list of "most scarring things to have happened in his life" right after the Mystery Food X debacle. It had taken a long, long time to get that particular memory to stop giving him nightmares.

"All right everyone, please settle down."

The students walked on over to whatever empty seats were available around the room and sat themselves down. Yosuke took an empty seat that put him in front of Yukiko. Ms. Sofue gave the usual welcome back speech with an added one about this being their last year in Yasogami High. Not that he was paying attention all that much since it all sounded like old news to him. With the way the other students had gone on about it, it probably was. The rest of the day moved on at a slow pace after that. By lunch, Yosuke was just itching to get out of the building, and it was only the first day.

* * *

His foot tapped impatiently on the wooden floor below him while Ms. Sofue gave her last lecture. Behind him, Yukiko was equally antsy which showed from the movements of her hands. Fingers shifting against the desk in a nervous rhythm and filled with pent up energy that made the black-haired girl about ready to shoot out of her chair. It felt like an age for the both of them before the bell finally rang.

"That is all for the day. Normal classes shall begin starting tomorrow."

Yosuke got up to his feet and picked up his bag in one swift movement and strode out of the room at a speed walk. Yukiko trailed out of the room after him where they both met up with Chie.

"Hey."

"Hey," Chie greeted him and Yukiko back, "Man, I thought the bell would never ring."

The three of them headed down to the first floor while they made light small talk. Chie had that plain teacher, Mr. Yamada, for her homeroom teacher. The same teacher who would let his mouth run and make remarks about the female student body, namely Yukiko, that, while harmless, painted him as a pervert. But never mind him, that wasn't important.

"Sooo…. We are going today, right?"

"Of course we are," Yosuke replied, "We all agreed that we would."

"Just making sure."

The trio headed towards Junes and up to the food court on the roof. Once up there, they went to the area they had claimed as their "secret headquarters" for quite some time now. Nowadays it was more of the designated get-together spot than anything else.

Rise, Kanji, Naoto, and Teddie were all present when they got to the table.

"Yo, senpai," Kanji nodded his head to them. Teddie being Teddie greeted them in a way befitting his nature, "What took you so long, Yosuke?! I swear, you're as slow as molasses!"

"Oh pipe down, Ted," Yosuke groused back in response.

"Hello everyone," Yukiko smiled as she greeted the rest of their group of friends. Naoto inclined her head in acknowledgement, "Senpai."

Once everyone had finished up their greetings (and settled down in Teddie's case) their initial mood sobered up. A small bit of silence fell upon the group with the only noise being Junes' ever present theme song and shoppers. Chie was the one to ultimately break the ice, "Since we're all here we can go, right?"

There was a collective nod from the group. Yosuke took a brief look around at all of them. Their faces all said the same thing and he shared their collective feelings. As a group, they exited the roof and to one of the lower floors with the electronics department. The group entered it and made their way towards the familiar tv that had been—and still was—a usual destination for them. Rise and Teddie took a few glances around them to check if anyone might see them.

"The coast is clear," Rise said.

"All right, now's our chance."

Yosuke took one step forward and reached his hand out towards the screen. The surface rippled like the face of a pond disturbed by a rock as it slid in with ease. Yosuke slid the rest of his body in and he was gone. Yukiko was the next to go, followed by Chie, then Kanji, Rise, Teddie, and finally Naoto. The detective spared the store one last glance before she too was gone. No one had seen the group disappear at all.

The familiar sensation of falling was welcome amongst the group and they felt slightly more energetic with each black and white pattern that passed them by. At the end, they finally landed on the familiar platform of the TV World's studio.

"All right," Yosuke murmured to himself after the landing. They began to walk down the steps and onto the grassy meadow that stretched out before them.

"Mmm!" Teddie stretched his arms up over his head, happy to be back in his world.

"So, where do you think he is this time?" Rise asked. A rustling noise came from one of the bushes and a fox kit bounded out. The vulpine didn't spare them a glance before running up to one of the trees atop a hill.

"There is our answer," Naoto said fondly.

The fox kit reached the base of the tree where its brothers, sisters, and mother were curled up next to a robed body. It yipped at the figure until he awoke from his sleep. Yosuke and the others approached him, "Hey. How was the first day of school?"

"What do you think?" Yosuke said sarcastically, but a grin was on his face, "It was boring."

Yu Narukami laughed, causing the sleeping foxes around him to stir slightly, "Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

Review.


	2. Yu

Next chapter.

I don't own Persona 4, it belongs to Atlus.

* * *

The sweet smell of flowers and the soothing sound of water rushing down into the lake enveloped the entire area. Up above, acting as the sun of the world within people's hearts, was a moon that gave off a soft light to paint the backdrop of the sky all around it in light hues of lavender and yellow. This was how the world was supposed to be: unclouded by the bewildering fog of lies and hollow happiness. Yu idly stroked the head of the shrine fox curled up beside him. A few of the little kits were running around nearby play fighting and rolling around in the grass. From the corner of his eye, he could see Kanji petting one kit who had approached him and his underclassman was a little red in the face.

Teddie was babbling to Yu about things that had happened on his shifts in Junes and other miscellaneous information. The silver-haired male listened; making small comments here and there that made the shadow nod his head and his smile sparkle even more.

"Hey Ted! Let us talk to him too!" Chie cried, lightly jabbing the blonde boy. Yu chuckled at their antics and turned to everyone else who had opted to sit close by. Rise was attached to his arm, hugging it like there was no tomorrow.

"I trust you have been doing well then, senpai?" Naoto asked in her usual fashion. Yu nodded his head, "I've been managing."

Teddie chimed in, "I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you as much, Sensei. Yosuke's been working the stuffing out of me!"

"That is not true!" Yosuke remarked, his expression twisted in annoyance, "Besides, you have to work off all of the popsicles you've been eating."

"Rrghh…." Teddie's face fell at that statement since it was true.

The whole group laughed and enjoyed their time together, passing it by with eating some of the snacks they had brought with them to share with Yu. The silver-haired young man was ever grateful to them and he listened to their conversations. The happy atmosphere eventually winded back down and they were all in a content state. But that was the moment where Yu had to ask a question that had been put off for weeks now, "How are Nanako and Dojima-san?"

There was a collective wince from the others.

"Well…" Kanji started.

"They've been devastated," Chie admitted her eyes downcast and expression sad, "Nanako-chan has been crying herself to sleep up and until now. Dojima-san isn't doing so hot either…"

"I see."

Yosuke could see the pain in his best friend's eyes as he said those two words.

"Thank you for taking care of them everyone."

They knew he was hurting and they knew he really was thankful to them for taking care of his relatives, the people he had become a real family with. But to hear him thank them for it only made them feel even more awful inside. Rise's hug tightened in response as if she could somehow alleviate his pain by taking it in herself.

"…" Yu spoke again but the somber tone had left his voice, "Rise, if you squeeze my arm any tighter you're gonna cut off my blood flow."

The tension snapped and the atmosphere returned to being light. Rise loosened her grip marginally, "Sorry Senpai."

Naoto looked at her watch and got up onto her feet, "Well, I believe it's time that we all start getting back."

"Whaaatttt?!" Teddie cried.

"Yeah, we've been here for a while now," Chie agreed, "Man, the time really does fly by when we're here."

"I'll see you guys off," Yu said as he got to his feet, pulling Rise up with him. The foxes watched the group head back to the studio platform where Teddie tapped his foot on the steel floor and his antique TV sets popped up.

"We'll come by again soon, Yu-kun," Yukiko vowed to him.

"Yeah."

"We promise, Senpai."

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to visit again for a while due to work, but I'll try to finish up as soon as I can."

"I'll come back soon, Sensei!"

"Later, partner."

Yu nodded to each and every one of them before they exited back into the real world. When they were finally gone, Yu's pleasant smile left him to return to a neutral state. He walked back out into the meadow where the Shrine Fox and her kits were waiting for him. The sleeves of his black kimono trailed behind him like heavy, dark wings with every step he took.

"Yip!" the Shrine Fox barked to him when he reached them again and the kits watched him expectantly. Yu knelt down and stroked her head, silently thanking her for being here with him. As he did this, his mind began to wander through old memories of his time in Inaba. The investigation, all of the good times he had, and all of the people he had met. It had been the one year where he had felt truly connected and truly happy.

_"All I ask is that you accept the responsibilities of your actions."_

Igor's words echoed within his head, just as they had been after March 20th for a while now. They were words he held onto and he didn't begrudge the Velvet Room denizens for his current predicament; none of this was their fault. All they had ever done was help him stop the murders and bring to light the true culprit.

Even so…

Yu's mouth twitched into a frown and his brows drew together as if he was in pain. It wasn't an easy thing to adjust to being unable to return to the other side. Not only that, no one outside of his group of friends and the Dojimas even remembered him. Kanji had said it was like someone had taken an eraser to their memories and rubbed him out.

That had been the worst part of his new predicament.

"Awoo!" the Shrine Fox's howl brought him back to reality.

"… Sorry, I'm all right now," Yu sent a grateful smile to the fox. She looked up at him and yipped once more before calling her kits to them. They made their way up to more rocky area of the TV world and headed for a cave in the cliff side. On the other side was a thin mist where silhouettes of shrine gates could be seen sticking up out of the water that surrounded the red bridge that stretched out into the island on the horizon. Yu's sandals thudded against the wooden surface, accompanied with the lighter steps of his animal companions. They eventually reached a giant torii that towered above them, serving as the entrance to his new abode; a traditional styled house from long ago with a modern interior.

Yu slid the entrance door open to let the foxes all bound inside ahead of him before walking in and sliding the door shut himself. Instantly, the house was lit by glowing lights that floated up and down like fireflies in a summer night, revealing an almost exact replica of the Dojima living room. Only there were scattered objects that one would find in a shrine littered about along with dozens of paper crane bundles hanging from the ceiling. Yu laid down on the tatami mats that served as the floor, not even bothering to go upstairs to his own "bedroom" that consisted of nothing but an altar with paper cranes and portraits of those he held dear lining the walls in a neat row. He felt the foxes curl up next to him but didn't so much as twitch. This was a regular occurrence for them after all.

Feeling exhaustion take over his body, Yu let his eyes slip shut so that he could sleep. The lights began to fade back out one by one until darkness covered the room again. Outside, the world within people's hearts remained unchanged and undisturbed as if no one had even been there.

* * *

Review.


End file.
